LWA: Regarding Death
by WrithingOedon
Summary: Little girls should not play with magic they don't understand. Akko does not understand this, so she does anyway. When Akko uses a spell no one has used in a long while, she finds herself in a place of mortal uncertainty. At least she has the Grim Reaper itself showing her promising career prospects for the mortally challenged. It's an adventure to die for.
1. Chapter 1

Beyond the edge of the universe, close to the boundary of reality, a hooded figure stands on the outside looking in. From here, it can see all. The uncountable number of stars littering the infinite black void, and the uncountable planets surrounding them. It sees the world. It sees the great world tree and the pure energy flowing from its branches.

It waves its hand, and the flowing energy twists and dances with it. The energy forms a door and the barrier between the universe and the beyond is open temporarily. It steps through.

AH… YES.

Months later:

Somewhere in England; well maybe not_ in_ England per-se, more like through it or next to it in an ethereal, multi dimensional sort of way, there is an academy. Not any old ordinary academy; as I'm sure you can tell, by not technically existing in any sensible or tangible way.

This is Luna Nova Academy. A special all girls' academy for those gifted with magic. An institute of higher learning; so high that it sometimes breaks a few dimensional barriers along the way. Young girls enroll, learn the ways of magic, become witches, then either become teachers or generally do nothing because the world hadn't had much magic left in it, at least up until recently. In that regard, it's like a communications degree, but with more explosions.

The campus is old, large and houses many dangerous magical objects. It's not that magic in itself is dangerous, which is why this school exists, but it's a lot like electricity; great for powering lightbulbs, microwaves and televisions, but encountering it on its own tends to me a messy affair, the kind of messy that involves missing limbs. The main aim of the school is to prevent young girls using magic to get into all sorts of trouble.

Towards the rear of the school, there in a secluded courtyard, we see a small group of girls gathered around a broomstick, using magic and getting into all sorts of trouble.

'Oh come on. The spell wasn't that hard to find. Just a simple walk into the teacher's section, breaking into the forbidden library, finding the advanced magister's section, getting the book, and getting out without anyone finding me. Easy'

'I didn't really say you couldn't do it, Amanda. I said you shouldn't. Do you know what would happen to us if Miss Finnelan found out? We're not even talking about laundry duty here. They wouldn't even hold us back a year. We could actually be EXPELLED.'

'We do this kinda thing all the time, Diana.'

'Not like this.'

'Fine, we'll let Akko decide. Hey Akko! You still wanna try this?'

'Yeah yeah yeah! I'm ready. Come on! I wanna fly!', Akko replied in her usual overenthusiastic way. The kind of way which most people soon learn to dread.

'Alright then', Amanda said as she removed the book from its black sleeve. She opened the book and began to flick through the pages. About a quarter of the way in, the words began to twist and turn in on themselves. They leapt from the book while one decided to attach itself to Amanda's forehead.

'Oh that's right, I forgot to mention, thanks to the restoration of magic, books are now filled with enough of it to simulate life of their own. And they don't really like to be read." Sucy chimed in, grinning like a shark.

'You could have mentioned this sooner', Amanda replied, turning to Sucy, revealing the word 'The' stuck to her face.

'That wouldn't have nearly been as fun.'

'You see. Even the books agree we shouldn't be doing this. And they don't even have any sapience!', said Lotte. Just before the book collided with her head. 'Ow… Sorry' she said to the book currently flailing about on the floor. The book stopped, quietly grumbled at Lotte, then began to awkwardly roll away.

'You can stop right there!', Amanda yelled, brandishing a broomstick and swinging wildly at the book. With a successful 'THWACK', the book was sent hurtling across the courtyard. Amanda strutted her way across and picked up the now placated book.

'The teachers usually use a calming or sleeping spell, but I guess brute force works too,' Diana added, extruding her usual air of superiority. She had been standing further back, watching the whole ordeal from a safe distance. She walked over to Akko holding a stern expression on her face. 'Listen I know I'm probably not going to change your mind, but Akko, this is one of the stupidest ideas you've ever had. This could get you expelled… This could get you hurt.'

Akko loosened her grip on the broomstick. Her eyes darkened a little, as though a fire began to die out.

'I…I know', stammered from her mouth. "But hey. We've nearly died hundreds of times before. What's another gonna do?". And with that, she gripped her broomstick, lifted her head and her eyes blazed with renewed determination. 'Ready Amanda?'

The thing about Akko is that she is optimistic, determined, stubborn, and completely and inveterately hopeless at magic, so hopeless that even the simple act of flying a broomstick – an act which most magically enabled children can accomplish – is still beyond her grasp (It's not entirely fair to say that Akko is incapable of flying; In fact, she's pretty good at it. She just struggles with other parts such as: turning, balance, stopping, rolling, speed control, control in general, and others not listed). Nevertheless, she will not give up, no matter how many times she needs to headbutt that brick wall, regardless of the possible brain damage. One could say that Akko is the wrong girl, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. You could also say that two wrongs don't make a right, but you should remember that three lefts also make a right.

'Ready!' Amanda responded. With her wand in one hand and book in the other, she began to read off the incantation. Like an ocean of opals, the magic spilled from the wand and engulfed Akko. It swarmed around her in waves, cocooning her in a giant shell of pure magical energy. The energy solidified and simply stood there. A gemstone of every colour imaginable sat in the centre of the courtyard.

'Is it supposed to do that?', Amanda asked.

'I don't know', Diana replied. 'I've never seen it used before. We weren't even supposed to use it. Teacher's aren't even supposed to use it. It's why it was locked in the forbidden section'.

'Wait', said Amanda. 'Even teachers aren't allowed to use it?'

'Yes. Which is why it was locked up tight in the FORBIDDEN section'.

Maxiaxcida is a special subset of magic discovered by the magicians of the University of the Light Fantastic – ULF for short. It was originally designed to grant users short, but powerful bursts of raw magical conduction. Users become a beacon for all surrounding magical particles. They home in on the user, who then proceeds to absorb them, thus boosting the user's magical talents by extreme magnitudes. There's a pretty heavy downside to this procedure though. Users of Maxiaxcida tend to absorb far more energy than their body can handle. Most practicing magicians agree that magical ability is stored in the space between where the soul and the body is. As the soul and body are technically two separate entities, it is basically impossible to gauge how much magic can be stored there. This would require separating body from soul, which, in most circumstances, also means being dead. Most people try to avoid being dead. We do it all our lives. Still that doesn't stop curious wizards from poking at things they shouldn't using big long sticks in the squishy sensitive areas.

To put it simply, typically users explode. It would take a truly important person to not.

The shell of the Maxiacidal cocoon began to fissure and crack. The colour of the universe itself seeped out of every space it could find. With a sudden inhalation of noise, the cocoon opened. The remaining fragments of shell drifted upwards and dissipated into the evening sky. There Akko stood. Radiating with raw magical power.

"See? I knew it would work", her words sparked as they left her mouth. Diana, Lotte, Sucy and Amanda stepped back, watching with feelings of shock, horror, confusion and absolute awe.

"Are you all ready to see some real flying?" she proclaimed, while straddling her broomstick. With a quick tilt of the handle, Akko's magical energy flowed from her body into the base of broomstick. It let out a high pitch wail, as it continued to build up its power. The base of the stick was now glowing with the intensity of a supernova made of rainbows. Like a jockey ready to ride a horse out of its pen, she gave the stick a slight kick, ready to show the laws of the universe that she really didn't care much anymore. She was ready so set the universe alight.

She then exploded.

What happened next was a bit of a blur to Akko. There was a bright light, some falling, probably some screaming maybe. She sat up and looked around. Her classmates were running towards her.

'Oh my god! are you ok?'

'Akko are you alright?'

'Can you hear us?'

'Y-yeah I'm fine', Akko replied in a somewhat confused kind of haze. Everything looked kind of washed out. Everything sounded somewhat echoey. The others finally reached her, but for some reason, continued running.

'Er… I'm fine. I already said. What are you all looking at?' The girls all crouched behind Akko, inspecting something on the floor shouting at something that she couldn't really make out. Akko stood up to investigate the commotion. Looking over Lotte, Sucy, Diana and Amanda, there she saw it. It is herself. Lying motionless on the floor. Lotte tried shaking her awake, Diana checked for a pulse. It didn't do any good.

Akko stood in silence. It took a moment for her mind to process what just happened. She waled towards Diana and tapped her on the shoulder. Her hand went straight through her.

AH. THIS AGAIN. IT'S BEEN A WHILE.

A voice appeared to Akko. A voice like a coffin falling in a mausoleum. She didn't hear it, at least through typical means anyway; as though the words were impatient, skipped the business of forming in the mouth, moving through the air and through her eardrums, they simply just jumped straight to her mind. An icy shard of dread shot through her spine. Akko would shiver, if she could feel cold.

'Erm…'

MAXIACIDA. NO ONE HAS USED IT RECENTLY ON ACCOUNT OF... WELL THIS WHOLE BUSINESS.

Using a bony hand, the figure vaguely gestured to the area containing both Akko and the exploded Akko. It was tall, hooded in a thick robe; a robe so dark that it seemed it was sewn out of the night sky itself, and gave off an atmosphere of finality and inevitability. The sense of dread dissipated quickly though, which is kind of odd; either the being wished to appear semi pleasant or Akko is just that naïve. It walked over to her body and lightly prodded it with the handle of its oversized gardening implement.

A raging torrent of questions circled through Akko's mind. Where am I? Who are you? Am I dead? Is this real? What's with the scythe? Only one managed to fight through the crowd in her brain and work its way towards her mouth.

'Did I explode?'

YES.

Akko paused for a moment to look back at herself.

'Uh… how?'

USING MAGIC YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN.

'Why's my body still intact?'

SOUL MAGIC. YOU ABSORBED SO MUCH MAGIC THAT IT PUSHED YOUR SOUL OUT OF YOUR BODY. SO HERE YOU ARE.

The gravity of the situation started to dawn on her a little.

'Does this mean…' A slight bead of sweat formed on her brow. 'Could I be…' her breath quickened. 'Am I dead?' Her mind raced.

YES.

It felt like a lead weight had dropped in her stomach.

ONLY TECHNICALLY ANYWAY. IT'S A LITTLE COMPLICATED.

A lead weight was suddenly lifted.

'I'm sorry?'

YOUR SOUL HAS BEEN FORCED OUT OF YOUR BODY. YOUR BODY NEEDS TIME TO EXPEL THE ENERGY THAT WAS PUT INTO IT. YOU CAN'T FORCE YOURSELF BACK IN YET. IMAGINE WALKING UP A POWERFUL RIVER. IT'S KIND OF LIKE THAT.

Akko took a moment to take everything in. The most important thing is that she's not dead - at least technically. It's only a matter of time before she can get back to being not dead. Her cheery optimism began resurfacing.

'I'm sorry but… Who are you exactly?'

I HAVE MANY NAMES.

The figure rose its head. The sight took Akko aback. There is no face under the hood, but a skull. Polished, white bone; helmed by a permanent grinning lipless smile. Akko looked into what she assumed are its eyes. Looking through into the hollow of its skull. She saw no eyeballs, no black void or any attempt at recreating eyes. She could see them sparkling. Like blue crystals hanging in the cosmos. She could see the universe.

'But what do you like to go by?'

DEATH.

'Like a Shinigami?'

OH NO, BLEACH ENDED YEARS AGO.

'Huh?'

NEVERMIND. FAREWELL.

Death turned and began walking away. Akko spent a single moment continuing to stare at her friends and her physical half, then gave a quick double take at Death's sudden departure.

'W-wait! You're leaving?'

YES.

'What about me?'

Death stared at her blankly, at least more blankly than possible with no actual face.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

'I can't stay here, can I?'

I DON'T SEE WHY NOT. MOST GHOSTS STAY FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. YOU HAVE MUCH LESS OF A WAIT THAN THEM.

'But what if I float off into heaven or something?'

YOU WON'T.

'You don't know that.'

I DO.

'But this doesn't feel right. I don't belong here.' Tears started forming in the corners of Akko's eyes. Not sopping, great globs which flood in tandem with snot, but as light droplets formed out of confusion, panic, and frustration. Death noticed them. The dead cannot cry; they can't be angry either. This is all on account of glands, chemicals, hormones and stuff like that. But Akko does as she is not dead. Death found himself in a unique position.

YOU'RE RIGHT. THE LIVING SHOULD NOT BE AMONG THE DEAD. IT WILL BE NO DIFFERENT IF YOU GO WITH ME, BUT IT SHOULD BE MORE INTERESTING.

Akko wiped away her tears, nodded enthusiastically and ran over to Death. A sudden thought jolted into her mind and she looked back at her friends. It wasn't easy trying to figure out what they were doing. They were in one area on moment, then in another the next, as if they faded in and out of existence. Their voices were both echoed and muffled, but there was a lot of shouting. Akko could tell that much.

'Will they be okay if I go?'

I ASSUME SO. THEY'RE STILL ALIVE. THERE'S NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO. YOU'RE NOT DEAD ENOUGH TO BE A GHOST AND YOU'RE NOT ALIVE ENOUGH FOR IT TO MATTER. THE BLOND ONE IS SMART. SHE SHOULD BE ABLE TO KEEP THE DAMAGE TO A MINIMUM.

'You know Diana?'

IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING.

Akko and Death walked together through an alcove towards the rear of the courtyard. They turned a corner and Akko was greeted by a large white horse. It was wearing a feed bag.

'Ah…um, is this yours?'

YES

'What's his name?'

BINKY

Death gave the horse a pleasant pat on the neck and removed the feed bag.

YOU SEEM CONFUSED

'I was just expecting something a little darker. And skeletal. And on fire.'

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED RIDING A SKELETAL HORSE? IT'S NOT COMFORTABLE. THEY ALSO HAVE A TENDENCY TO FALL APART UNDER SLIGHT WEIGHT, BECAUSE OF HAVING NO MUSCLES OR SKIN.

Akko was about to try and apply that to Death but thought better of it. Death leapt into riding position with a dramatic flair that he doesn't get to use often. Akko was impressed. He offered his hand to Akko. She seemed hesitant.

'I'm not sure I should. I've heard about the touch of death.'

NOT EVERY MYTH YOU HEAR ABOUT ME IS TRUE.

With some reservation, she reached out and grabbed his cold, calcareous hand.

BUT MOST OF THEM ARE.

Death pulled Akko into the space in front of him, where she sat far more comfortably than expected for being so close to the reaper. With a quick tap of his foot, death pulled the harness and Binky trotted off into the evening sky. The sun settled behind the Earth and the thick blanket of twilight covered the world. The streets of England swelled with the streetlamp's warm, orange glow. All would have been silent aside from three noises: the rushing stratospheric air, the gallop of Binky's hooves against the metaphorical ground, and Akko's barrage of relentless questions.


	2. Chapter 2

Within the city centre of London there exists many important buildings. Many important buildings filled with many important people. Many important people talking to other important people about important things. These important people have other less important people working for them, and in turn these less important people have unimportant people working for them.

One such unimportant girl is rushing towards one of these important buildings.

She had to rush to get ready so: her hair is a mess; some of her breakfast is spilled over her shirt – which also may be on backwards – and she forgot her purse which lead to a slightly awkward exchange on the bus.

But she made it, and she scrambled into the important building and into an elevator. She was crammed in next to many important, very important, and unimportant people alike; all forced together in a stern, cold silence as they watched and waited for the small, metal coffin to crawl its way up along the elevator shaft; each second feeling like an hour, the air getting hotter and stuffier, the walls closing in further and further, each agonizing–

DING

The elevator opened, and everyone snapped back into reality and continued on their ordinary way, except the unimportant girl, who waited till it was empty, made sure no one was around, and began pressing its buttons in a peculiar order. After the final input she stepped back and started at them in an agonizing silence. She prayed she had got the order right. She was only told it once.

The light began to flicker and switch off. The elevator began to buzz and whirr, then it started to move. She let out a sigh of relief as the elevator shunted left. It started to rise. It kept rising. It rose fast. It rose far higher than any building in London. And, almost as quickly as it started, it stopped.

DING

The doors opened. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkened room, but once they did, she found herself in a room far older than the surrounding building would suggest. Cold, dark stone lined the walls, bearing iron torch sconces lit with a dim, purple flame. Each footstep she took echoed endlessly down the darkened halls. The whole floor wasn't part of an office building, it was more like an old, medieval castle.

Her footsteps reverberated almost endlessly down the passage. Each click of the heel was so loud it rang in her ears and made her feel a little self conscious. She tried to stick to the carpets as much as she could, but there was too much stone for it to be possible.

The room was dark, borderline black, but she could still make out shapes at the end of the hall. There was the possibility of a desk, and a chance there were bookcases behind it, and maybe some odd looking contraption between them.

She stopped before the desk which, like the rest of the room, was also very old, as were the books, but what was between them was not, at least not completely. It gave the shape of a wheelchair made up of pieces from both then and now. Magic and technology mashed together in chaotic frame. Glass tanks were attached to tubes which fed into each and every other part of the contraption and back into a central chamber in the middle of it all. And something was sat inside it.

"I'm glad to see you're here," emerged a voice, struggling with each word. "I trust there were no complications in the instructions you were given?"

"N-no sir," the unimportant girl said in surprise of the sudden voice. "It took a bit to find the actual building but-"

"And I trust you have the information, considering you are here in the first place." The figure gestured towards a metallic briefcase sitting on the darkened desk, its gleam noticeable even in the darkened light of the room. The unimportant girl collected it, finding it to be much lighter than expected.

"Yes sir. We detected it's energy signature."

"Where?"

"A school called Luna Nova Academy."

"Good. Let us go get my book back."


	3. Chapter 3

Death gained a unique insight into the way Akko's mind operates. It was like a large ball of yarn; each question taking a thread and unravelling it little by little. Eventually the ball would reveal more threads sticking out in all directions, and each of those threads would reveal more and more threads which would connect to threads knotted to other threads, and once the core is revealed it would just be another ball of yarn to be unravelled. He already knew this of course, he knew everything about everyone, but there is an expansive distance between knowing something and experiencing something.

"Mr Death? Why are you a big skeleton in a robe with a scythe?"

WERE YOU EXPECTING ME TO LOOK DIFFERENT?

"No. I'm just wondering why this form specifically?"

DO YOU THINK ANIMALS UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF DEATH, OR DO THEY JUST OBSERVE THAT THINGS STOP LIVING? I HAVE EXISTED SINCE LIFE FIRST STARTED AND I SHALL BE HERE TILL THE FINAL LIFE ENDS. IT IS ONLY RECENTLY THAT THIS FORM HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME, BY YOU; NOT YOU SPECIFICALLY, BUT BY HUMANS. WHEN DEATH STOPPED BEING THE ABSENCE OF LIFE AND BECAME WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LIFE ENDS.

"How recent?"

ROUGHLY 1.5 MILLION YEARS AGO

"That's not very recent"

FOR YOU, PERHAPS

Death raised his scythe into the air and thrust it into the space before Binky. It pierced the space and sank into the air. With a quick downward thrust, the scythe's blade split and fractured the very fabric of reality. Third dimensional shards broke off and fell away as Death pulled the scythe back towards him. Akko stared in awe at what was left. A perfectly 2D hole in reality; completely flat and cracked at the edges. The effect was hard to look at and gave her a slight headache.

Binky trotted into it.

"Where are we going?"

HOME

Akko held onto Binky's reigns with excited anticipation. What does the house of death look like? Is it some ethereal dark dimension filled with the souls of the lost clamouring for an escape? Is it some horrific hellscape where the souls of the damned are sent to their eternal punishment? Is it a grand castle adorned with skeletal motifs, and does Death rest upon a great, black throne where he waits until the souls of the departed are ready for collection? All these expectations swirled and swarmed her mind. Such a powerful and omnipresent being must dwell within a place befitting that of his stature. Surely, he must have a place where he can see all of creation and find those that are ready to move on from life. The centre of the universe. She would stand at the balcony of the house of death and look out at the entirety of the universe laid out before her, a sight that no mortal creature had ever seen before and possibly will never see again.

It's a shame that they stopped at a quaint English cottage.

"Is this it?"

IS WHAT IT?

"Your house."

YES

"… I was expecting a little bit more."

YOU HAVE A LOT OF EXPECTATIONS FOR SOMETHING YOU HAVE ONLY MET RECENTLY.

They both dismounted Binky, who trotted off to his nearby stable, and they walked through Death's front garden.

The first thing which struck Akko was the colour of the place. She though there was no colour; only black and white. Then she realised that this wasn't the case. Everything was made up of hundreds of different shades of black: the plants, the sky, the cottage, all of it. The only things that were not black was Binky – who was a creamy sort of colour – and oddly enough a red cross painted on Death's front door.

"What this?" Akko said, pointing at the cross.

AH THAT. IT'S A PART OF THIS PLACE'S CREATION.

The next thing which struck Akko was the cobblestones after she tripped over a loose branch jutting from the hedge. After a short moment of writing in agony an embarrassment, Akko turned to take vengeance on the offensive piece of shrubbery. She poked it, prodded it, pulled it, kicked it and even jumped up and down on it a little until she came to a strange conclusion.

The small, black branch was completely unmovable. Aside from the gate, everything in the garden was unmovable. And something about the whole place felt wrong, aside from everything being a different colour of black. This was exemplified in the windows of the cottage which were completely opaque; nothing was visible through them, which begs the question: who make a window which cannot be seen through? Usually it would be people with something to hide, but that would require other people to hide said things from, so that can't be the reason.

"Mr Death, are the plants supposed to be like this? Mr Death?"

The Reaper was nowhere to be seen.

Akko went to the door of the small English cottage and tried to open it. Just like the plants, it was unmovable. She decided to politely knock on it. It should have been a knock anyway, but the door was made of some unknown material that it just ended up sounding like a dull thud.

I WAS WAITING FOR YOU. WHY AREN'T YOU INSIDE? Death questioned, poking his head through the perfectly solid door. The sudden presence of a skull startled Akko and she reeled back slightly.

"Well there's this door in the way."

HAVE YOU TRIED WALKING THROUGH IT?

Akko looked at the door for a moment, tapped it lightly with her knuckles, then gave it a half-hearted push.

"Yes?"

OK. ONE SECOND. Death pulled his head back through the door and a moment later it had disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Queried Akko.

IT'S MY DOOR.

"No not that. I mean the walking through walls thing. Not even the most senior of witches can do that."

THINGS LIKE THE LAWS OF PHYSICS AND TIME ARE JUST SMALL THINGS FOR ME TO WORK AROUND.

The inside of the cottage appeared to be as one would expect; the floor was tiled with wood but felt like a completely different material; the side tables were aligned with picture frames but no pictures; the coat rack was filled with coats but remained unmovable. A grandfather clock stood at the end of the entrance hall, repetitiously ticking away, pendulum swinging rhythmically left to right and right to left. Yet the clocks hands did not move.

Death walked through a wall and into another room.

Something clicked in Akko's mind. This entire place was built wrong. Not completely wrong, it knew that it had to have windows, plants, doors, tables, pictures, but it did not know why. It did not know the true purpose of why everything had to be where it was; a coat rack to hang wearable coats on for easy access, a window to look out on the world and let sunlight in, picture frames to store memories of friends and loved ones.

The place lacked life.

Akko looked into the place where a door had previously been and looked into the houses' representation of a kitchen. Nothing really out of the ordinary, all things considered. There was a fridge, stove, sink, dining table, all the usual items someone would expect to be there. Although there was an abundance of cats. Akko was puzzled, but overall, not surprised.

She continued onward to the room Death skulked into.

There was a strange noise emanating for further down into the hallway. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, yet it sounded very familiar, like the constant, low rumble of the ocean.

She made a right turn into the final room of the hall and what she saw almost overloaded her eyes to the point where she started experiencing vertigo.

Hourglass timers.

An uncountable number of shelves each holding an uncountable number of hourglass timers filled a room which appeared to stretch on to infinity. Each hourglass filled with sand falling from the future, through the funnel of the present, and into the past; the act of which, for a single hourglass, completely silent, but for an innumerable number of them collected together in an infinite space formed into a single powerful roar.

Akko ran down the aisles in excited fascination, looking at the labels attached to each and every hourglass. Every single one had a name, and if you concentrated hard enough, you could make out images within the glass. It looked like people going about their daily lives, at least as far as Akko could tell.

It wasn't just people either. The unfathomably large shelves split off into different sections for all kinds of creatures, plants, animals, bacteria, even some things Akko didn't know existed. The phoenix was particularly annoying, whenever its lifetimer ran out, you would have to flip it right back over.

She wandered her way down the aisles, the almost infinite view giving her a slight dizzy sensation, until she happened upon the centre. The was a large table in the middle with the map of the world etched into it. Beyond the table, Death sat at an imposing desk, skulls carved into its design, perusing the pages of an old, large book. He was reading through and jotting notes down onto a scroll.

"This is amazing!" Akko blurted out, the echo of her voice quickly lost to the roar of the falling sands. "Is this everyone in the world?"

UNIVERSE, Death said, eye holes still fixated on the book.

"Really? Well that explains the weird looking ones near the back. Do you need to find all of these people when their sands run out?"

NO. JUST A FEW SPECIFIC CASES. THAT'S WHAT THIS BOOK IS FOR. IMAGINE IT LIKE MONARCHY, YOU KNOW THE QUEEN RULES OVER YOU, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN SHE HAS TO BARGE INTO YOUR HOUSE AND DEMAND YOU MAKE HER A CUP OF TEA.

Akko took quick notice of a small table next to the desk. On it sat a single lifetimer. When she took a closer look, she found something odd about it. It contained no sand. Instead, there was a strange violet mist which morphed and flowed through its funnel into both the top and bottom segments. She tried to peer deeply into it, but what visions there should have been were only met with a kind of static effect.

"What's wrong with this one?"

SOMEONES LIFE ISN'T WORKING THE WAY IT SHOULD.

"How so?"

THEY ARE NEITHER LIVING OR DYING. AND THEY'RE USING SOME VERY OLD MAGIC TO DO IT. THEY HAVE FOUND A WAY TO HIDE FROM ME.

Akko tried read the name engraved on the metal plaque near the base of the lifetimer, but it appeared to have been scratched off.

"So, haven't you done anything about this?"

AN OPPORTUNITY WILL PRESENT ITSELF, I'M SURE. I'M VERY PATIENT.

Death closed the great book, rolled the scroll up, and placed it into his robe.

IT'S TIME WE WERE OFF.

"Already?" Akko said.

SOULS NEED TO BE COLLECTED. THEY NEED TO BE RECYCLED. THE WHEEL OF LIFE TURNS, AND WE MUST BE THERE TO TURN IT.


	4. Chapter 4

Diana always seemed like the kind of person whose confidence never wavered, no matter the situation. She had that kind of elegance about her. Today, she still had that elegance, but it was more like a swan; serene and calm on the outside, yet absolutely flapping underneath. Lotte was beyond panicking; tears streaming down her face, Amanda went into shock; her face pale white, and Sucy (being Sucy) at least appeared a little less happy than usual. Akko's body laid catatonic before them. She went over to give Akko a less panicked examination.

_Okay Diana,_ she told herself. _Deep breaths, don__'t panic. _Diana closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. She gave herself a moment to gather her thoughts and compose herself. _Now, let__'s assess the situation. Akko isn't dead. There's a pulse. It's faint, but it's there. So, what's wrong with her? It's like she's unconscious, but it's not quite right. Her eyes are dull, again not just unconscious, but like something is missing._

She looked off to her left and noticed the book laying there; it was moving, albeit slightly, as though it was taking a nap. She went over and gently picked it up, making sure to comfort it while doing so; books do not like being mishandled. It purred gently in her arms, or possibly growled, it's hard to tell with books, but it wasn't attacking her which is a good sign. A general rule of thumb is that the more aggressive the book is, the more powerful the contents tend to be, and this one had a real chip on its shoulder, or hardback cover in this case.

She lightly flicked through its pages till she came across the page Amanda found. "Maxicadia," she said to herself and looked back at the unconscious body of Akko. "If the spell goes wrong it can push the soul out of the body". That line sent a red hot flush of panic from her brain and sent ripples through her skin. She looked around at her friends. Lotte was still shouting hysterics at and shaking an unconscious Akko, Amanda was still frozen in a near enough catatonic state of shock, and Sucy was poking Akko with a stick. They were right to panic (Amanda and Lotte anyway).

She continued through the book carefully; the tome was so old each page felt as though it had a fair chance of turning to dust. One page was even ripped out completely. "So theres massive amplified power, um… possibly explosions, goodness I wish Amanda would read on before casting any spells, in the event of any resultant explosion -oh yes here we are- please wait for the soul and body to expel any additional energy it may have collected." A refreshing cool wave of relief and catharsis flooded over Dianna. This is not permanent, she isn't dead, we can fix this. She leapt over to Amanda and tried to shake her back to reality. "Amanda! Listen! She's not gone. She isn't dead."

This seemed to resonate with her.

"S-she's not?" Amanda managed.

"No we just have to wait. She'll be back."

A moment passed and she snapped back to reality.

"Well great!" Amanda exclaimed with more enthusiasm than she initially intended. "We just have to keep her safe until she comes back. Any idea on how long?"

Diana quickly flicked through the book.

"It doesn't say," Diana said as she place the book carefully into her bag.

"Great. So any point between now and the end of time."

"I doubt it will be that long, but we need to prepare just in case. We need to get her somewhere safe and out the way of the teachers. If they find her, they'll know what's wrong, they'll know what you did, and they'll know how you did it."

"Ok I get it," Amanda said and took a moment to think. "We'll get her back to her room, pretend she's sick. That'll at least keep them off our back for a while till we think of something better."

"Right now I think it would be best if we explain this to Lotte. She look a little distraught."

"Ah right, good idea."

After consoling a distraught Lotte and taking the stick away from Sucy, they set their plan into motion.

"So," Lotte said, wiping some scuffs from her glasses. "How are we going to get Akko back inside without anyone noticing?"

"We can't use anything magical," Diana interjected. "The teachers would notice any spells we cast, and we have to make this look like she is naturally ill."

"Alright, I've got an idea," Amanda added, popping out of a deep thought. "Have any of you seen Weekend at Bernies?"

"A very long time ago, I don't remember much of it. Sorry." Lotte meekly mentioned.

"I don't watch TV," said Diana.

"What's a Bernie?" Sucy added unhelpfully.

_Not a problem_, Amanda thought to herself. She pulled out a pair of sunglasses, which she always has on herself, no matter the time of day or year, and slid them on Akko's unconscious face. She then placed Akko limp arm onto her shoulder, the hoisted her up into a almost standing motion. She gave Diana a nodding gesture to the other side of Akko, which she interpreted correctly and hoisted Akko up in a symmetrical fashion.

The facade was complete. Akko looked like an unconscious body limply hanging in-between two high school girls while wearing sunglasses.

"This will not work," Diana said bluntly.

"Well, till you come up with a better idea, this'll have to do."


	5. Chapter 5

Again, Akko found herself in the space between Death and Binky's head in a journey she, again, found surprisingly comfortable. Deaths robe was surprisingly soft and voluminous. It was like she could fall back and fall into a mound of comfy blankets till she accidentally touched a thigh bone and remembered where she was.

The universe stretched out before them and, from the edges, they could just make out a few more in the distance.

"Ooh!" Akko exclaimed and pointed out in excitement. "What's that world with the giant elephants sitting on the turtle?"

NEVERMIND THAT. YOU STILL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT YOUR OWN WORLD FIRST.

Akko paid Death no heed and continued to watch the unique worlds fly past them. Before she knew it, they were back inside Earth's atmosphere, Binky managing a slow, but steady descent.

The early morning moonlight bathed the clouds in its white light, illuminating their surface while also highlighting their shadows. Binky cantered through, revealing the countryside below.

The descent was smooth enough that the three of them were on the ground before Akko had a chance to fully realize it, so Death dismounted Binky with a graceful float while Akko gave more of a clumsy struggle, then slide onto her backside.

Akko, struggling to her feet, caught the view of the small, gloomy town spilling from the hills outside the countryside. The sky was a brilliant white, speckled with infrequent patches of dark gray. To her right, nestled comfortably in a small wooded area, stood a hospital; not a great hospital like one you would find in the centre of Manchester, but a small one which dealt with things like farming accidents or elderly people toppling over. Perfect for a small country town.

Death walked into it straight through a brick wall which left Akko circling around looking for an actual entrance.

The good thing about being in a spiritual kind of state is that no one notices you walking into employee only areas, the bad thing is that you can't ask anyone for directions either, also automatic doors don't open for you, as Akko soon found out when she stumbled upon the entrance. But hospitals are not know for being quiet places, so Akko slipped in when the doors opened for an orderly pushing around an empty wheelchair. Looking back at the closing double doors, Akko pondered for a moment as to why she couldn't simply phase through them like Death could, and made herself a mental note to ask him later.

She walked down the ivory white halls of the hospital; staff and patients phasing in and out of this plane, till she found Death standing just outside the doorway of an occupied room. He gestured towards the door for Akko to look inside.

The powerful antiseptic smell overwhelmed her, triggering some long faded memory which lie dormant at the very recesses of her mind. Something old and painful, yet not quite with form. She couldn't remember the place, the people, or the event, but she could remember the feeling; one of profound melancholy and culmination, as though she witnessed something important come to its conclusion.

She saw a bed. And in the bed lay a man. He was a man of exceeding girth with all manner of wires and tubes attached to his body and fed into machines. His breathing was slow and rhythmic; assisted by a near machine.

_He is not a healthy looking man, _Akko thought. Then Death walked past her and she felt silly for thinking such an obvious thought.

When she focused, Akko could briefly make out some humanoid shapes surrounding the bed. They hung there longingly and from them fell an aura of grief and mourning.

Death held his skeletal hand over the chest of the man, and from it emerged another man who looked much thinner and far more transparent. It looked at Death with the same look one would have when entering a room where everyone was wearing shoes on their heads; not a look of anger or sadness, but of the type of confusion only found when someone doesn't see the whole picture.

"Am I dead?" His voice echoed, as though he was trapped in a glass bottle.

YES

"Are you Death?"

YES

The man turned and looked ahead in deep thought, trying to regain what mental faculties he could.

"Why don't I feel as sad as I should be?"

GLANDS, MOSTLY.

"Ah. Right," the man stared down at his own body, then back towards Death. "Seemed a bit short, didn't it?"

LONGER THAN SOME; SHORTER THAN OTHERS.

"Seems like it could have been longer, like I could have done more."

WAS IT SATISFYING?

"Sorry, what?"

DID YOU ENJOY YOUR LIFE?

"…Yeah I suppose I did."

THEN THAT'S ALL THERE REALLY IS TO IT.

Akko felt for the man. The kind of pertinent kinship with a person who experienced the very specific circumstances one has been through. She fully understood what it was like to awaken with this mysterious figure looming overhead, and to have millions of questions racing through the mind.

Death gently touched the man's shoulder and, rising heavenward, the soul dissipated into the atmosphere.

Akko stood in awe of the powerful moment. She lingered in there next to the doorway in a inspired silence, ruminating on the fact she just witnessed a soul depart from the world. Then one of the soul particles flew up her nose, she sneezed, and broke her own train of thought.

With the soul now ascended, Death wasted no time and left through the wall, leaving Akko to clamber through an open window while being thankful that they were only on the first floor. She successfully fit her arms, head, body, and left leg through, then caught her right foot on the windowsill and landed face first in a bush.

She stumbled to her feet, spitting out a mouthful of leaves, and found Death already sat atop Binky; his face perfectly carved with that indifferent, skeletal smile.

"I don't get it!" Akko shouted in annoyance. "I'm a soul aren't I?"

YES

"Then I should be able to walk through walls, right?"

WRONG

"Why?"

BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT DEAD

"But I'm a soul."

YES

"Without a body."

YES

"So I'm dead then."

NO

"But I…" Akko threw her hands up in confused frustration and let out an annoyed sigh. Death grabbed her arm and brought her up to sit on Binky.

YOU ARE NEITHER DEAD, NOR ALIVE. YOU HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FROM YOUR BODY, BUT YOU ARE STILL CONNECTED TO IT. YOU ARE IN A METAPHORICAL GREY ZONE AND THE UNIVERSE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT EXACTLY TO DO WITH YOU. SO IT COMPROMISED AND NOW YOU SHARE PROPERTIES WITH BOTH THE ALIVE AND THE DEAD.

Binky set off into the overcast sky.

ONE OF THESE MUST BE ADHERENCE TO THE LAWS OF PHYSICS. TO YOU, THEY ARE A LAW. TO ME, THEY'RE MORE LIKE A RECOMMENDATION.

Akko did not understand a single word of what he said, but pretended to understand so she would seem smart. Death understood Akko's lack of understanding and understood her need to appear as though she understood and did not continue the explanation any further.

As far as Akko was concerned, this was just how things was and she should be careful.

Before Akko realized it, Binky already reached his destination.

Akko found herself far above the busy streets of a city; she couldn't tell which, but some of the signs were in English, the buildings were tall, and the city itself was enormous, so she assumed it was somewhere in America.

Atop the closest building to Death, Akko, and Binky was a group of people-tourists most likely-looking down over the city. Binky stopped just at the side of the building's edge, where Akko could see a pretty old looking fence around the roof which was designed to prevent people from falling off.

Akko must have been getting used to this 'being dead' business, because people gradually stopped looking like ghostly apparitions and started taking the form of actual people.

She saw one of these tourists messing with fence. He was a young man, probably no older than Akko. He pulled of a piece of the fence and managed to pull himself onto the ledge to get a better view of the streets below, his torso hanging off the side.

"He could slip off at any moment," Akko said, not at anyone in particular.

Death pulled out a lifetimer from within his robe and held it up to sun so it could catch the light better. They both saw the odd way the sand was acting; there was much still left in the top section, but it phased in and out of their vision. It phased out more and more as the boy pulled himself further onto the ledge. It was an old looking ledge, so it didn't look like it could handle much weight.

Akko sat there atop Binky, ruminating on why people can be so oblivious to the possibility of death. In an uncharacteristic moment for Akko, the irony was not lost on her. She remembered the words Diana said to her before they used that spell causing all this. And in that moment, she was hit by a sudden spark of clarity.

Humans are obsessed with death. They don't like to say it out loud, but the concept is enthralling. They do what they can to avoid it, yet their curiosity takes hold in a far greater way than their own sensibilities would like to admit. Here we have a young man before the prime of his life teetering on the edge of life and death, and for what? Just a better view, and he's even thinking right now, _what if I jump?_ The call of the void.

The universe is imperfect. No matter how perfectly smooth and object looks, if you look close enough, there will always be cracks and bumps and fissures. That's why Death is here. He's here to sort out any mistake the universe makes. Which is why Akko knew exactly why Death dismounted Binky and stood horizontally on the wall below where the boy was looking.

The boy looked down at him and squinted, as though he was trying to make out what he was looking at. His eyes widened, his face turned pale, he let out a yelp and scrambled back onto the roof proper.

And Akko knew just what it was. Fear of Death; the most primal fear of all.

The moment of clarity came on so suddenly and unnaturally she shuddered. She shook her head, trying do do away with these uncharacteristic thoughts.

Death returned to Binky and checked the lifetimer again. It was good and full.

Once again, Binky trotted off into the sky.

"Mr Death? Where are all the wizards?"

THEY LEFT

"Where did they go?"

ELSEWHERE

"You don't know."

THAT IS NOW THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ANOTHER DEATH

"Why did they leave?"

NO MORE MAGIC

"Oh. Shouldn't they come back soon?"

BECAUSE OF GRAND TRISKELLION? I SUPPOSE. IT DEPENDS WHERE THEY WENT

"I believe they will," Akko leaned back, satisfied in her answer. "A believing heart is a magical one after all."

YES. BELIEF IS A POWERFUL THING. FOURTH MOST POWERFUL CONCEPT IN THE UNIVERSE

"Yeah, it's pretty… wait, fourth?"

YES

"Then what's third?"

LUCK

"Second?"

DEATH

"Seriously? Then what the hell is first?"

YOU'RE NOT READY FOR THAT

"Then where does friendship come in?"

SIXTH

"WHAT? LOVE?"

FIFTH

Akko sat in a shocked silence. Her world had just turned upside down. Her world then turned hot, dry, and dusty as Binky descended into his next location.

A great, barren desert stretched out before them, it's lifeless, brown sands rolling over into the horizon.

Binky landed gracefully and Death and Akko dismounted him and set foot onto the sands. Akko dismounted face first. The sand was dry and crunchy, a nice contrast to the mouthful of leaves earlier.

She spat out what she could and peered ahead of her. She could make out a tiny rural village, small homes battered, beaten, and ruined. Some shimmering shapes dotted in and out, running, hiding, crouching, laying.

Others could be seen popping I and out over the brow of the horizon. Akko wanted a better look and took a few steps forward.

WAIT

She then found herself hovering in the air, collar pressed against her neck, arms limply dangling by her sides. She looked down to find a round piece of metal with a button sticking out the top of it.

"What's that?"

LANDMINE

"Ah…"

Death's outstretched arm held her collar, as though she was a kitten being carried by it's mother. She struggled a little, but not much, as Death's grip may as well have been a universal constant; unbreakable (unless you're a Water Bear).

"That wouldn't kill me would it? Since I'm already, ya know, technically dead."

DO YOU WANT TO RISK IT?

"I suppose I shouldn't."

Distant gunfire could be heard seeping it's way into the afterlife, then some confused soldiers popped in. It started with one or two, then a few, then several, the a whole battalion standing around, not sure what to do with themselves.

OKAY. EVERYONE FORM A NICE ORDERLY LINE AND I SHALL SORT YOU OUT IN A MOMENT

And they did, that's the good thing about soldiers, if in doubt, just follow the thing that looks like it's in charge.

"Excuse me," one of the soldiers called out. "Shouldn't we be in separate places? Like for Protestants and Catholics and stuff?"

"I think those guys over there are Muslim," another shouted out.

"And I'm Jewish."

NOT REALLY. IT DOESN'T MATTER IN THE END

Something about the calmness confused Akko. "Wait. Weren't you just fighting? Don't some of you guys hate each other?"

The soldiers took a quick glance at each other. "It seems kinda pointless now."

IT'S THOSE GLANDS AGAIN

Death tapped the ground with his scythe and the soldiers raised into the heavens, just as the man in the hospital did, and they left to whatever world was beyond this one.

"Wow. So, wait. What about ghosts? Are they actually real?"

SOMETIMES, IF ONE'S HAS A GREAT DESIRE NOT TO MOVE ON. LIKE BILL HERE

"Hello," said a spirit just hovering by.

READY TO GO YET?

"Hmm. Not really. Still a bit peeved."

ALRIGHT THEN

"But I thought spirits couldn't get angry," said Akko.

IN SOME CASES, ANGER CAN LINGER ON POSE DEATH. LIKE AN ECHO

"Can I ask another question?"

PROCEED

"Can you put me down?

YES

Death released his grip on Akko's collar and she fell head first into the sand.


	6. Chapter 6

Amanda and Diana trudged their way out of the courtyard and into the main halls of the school as Lotte fretted on behind them while Sucy, due to her overly long gown and odd posture, slithered on behind them.

Akko's body held the same consistency of a big, dead fish and sometimes slipped through the girls arms and flopped onto the floor. After a few tries, they figured out that Akko wouldn't move if they squished her between them enough that movement wasn't an option.

The large arched windows bathed the decorated halls of Luna Nova Academy in the golden light of the setting late spring sun. The school opened up to them in a way none of them had really seen before. The halls were usually bustling with people; more so in the recent months. The only times the halls were ever this empty was during class periods, and late into the evening or early morning. The students and faculty typically skittered off to their dorms around this time.

_How long were we outside? How long were we practicing spells? _Diana thought.

As a benefit though, it meant a clear path straight to Akko's room and less possibility of running into people and having to deal with an awkward conversation.

There were some faculty members dotted around, but they at least appeared to be preoccupied with something far more important than some students shuffling around the place.

Things were going smoothly, Diana and Amanda marched on with Akko's limp feet dragging along the floor., while Lotte and Sucy acted as guards ahead, ready to give signal if anyone approached. Diana felt at ease, at least more so than she had been that day.

After a few false warnings given by Lotte; only because of her brand of hyper caution, which could be anything from 'there's a teacher right behind you' to 'a bird flew past the window, maybe', they left the ostentatious main hall and went into the dingy student accommodation. It was a musky place, sometimes damp, sometimes moldy, but the students were fine with this. Students can survive the most unlivable of conditions. It was left this way because the staff don't really trust the students with anything more.

Diana's mind started to wander; _What will we do next? When will Akko recover? Will she recover? How long can we keep this goi-_

"What on Earth is going on here?" a shrill voice called out from a corridor to the left of them.

A sharp pang of pure panic froze the girls where they stood. Diana looked over to see the looming presence of Miss Finnelan. Her sharp, rigid features and iron clad posture gave her the impression as less of a teacher and more of a inquisitor or even a Templar. She was the kind of woman who you would think was born old. At least this was the way Akko thought of her. In truth, she was a tall, imperturbable woman who had a fondness for rules, organization, and order, and was not afraid to tell people when something happened which she did not approve of; she absolutely would not approve of what was happening here.

Lotte gave out a sheepish bleat of fear, Amanda, being far more used to situations like these than she should be, froze in a trance like state as her brain processed every possible way to escape or shift blame, Diana let out a stuffed 'errrm' as her mouth started to move before her brain did, and Sucy was nowhere to be seen.

Diana was the oldest, the smartest, richest, and the girl Miss Finnelan trusted most out of the entire group, possibly even the entire school. This made her a perfect target for Miss Finnelan's interrogatives.

"Diana, I'm going to ask you again," she demanded, as she stormed up to the girls, the earth quaking with each step.

Time appeared to stop as Diana's mind went into overdrive.

_This is it, _Diana thought. _She__'ll find out about Akko; she'll find out about the book; she'll find out where we got it. Akko and Amanda will probably be expelled and never get to practice magic again._

Diana's emotions pushed straight through fear and swelled up into anger.

_Well, screw it, _Diana decided in fiery defiance. _Akko has done so much for us, so much for me. I__'m not going to let her be expelled for trying something new, unconventional and risky; isn't that what being a witch is all about?_

Consequences be damned, Diana would put everything on the line for her friend. It was about time someone stand up to Miss Finnelan and the way she treated Akko. The thought of unloading all this rage into a verbal assault oddly excited her, if only a little.

She inhaled deeply and opened her mouth ready to unleash a well deserved verbal torrent, then she heard something to her right.

"Akko's sick!" Amanda quickly interjected. "We were just taking her back to her room."

Amanda's quick answer caught Miss Finnelan off guard. Whenever Amanda was in a group that was in trouble, she would try to slink into the background and try and disappear; a technique with an infrequent success rate, but Amanda was too stubborn for it to matter.

"I'm sorry?" Miss Finnelan said. The words themselves would be polite from any mouth other than Miss Finnelans, she had a way of dripping each word with enough venom to kill a dragon. "And why is she wearing those ridiculous glasses?"

After one good lie, Amanda was out of ideas and stood there in a gormless silence.

"She's sensitive to light," Diana added. She was usually against lying to the faculty, but this was a unique circumstance.

The look in Miss Finnelan's eyes was not an impressed look, it was not an understanding or sympathetic look, it was more of a murder look. She obviously knew something was wrong, but she couldn't outright prove it yet, but Miss Finnelan wasn't the type of woman to let something as small as 'evidence' get in the way of a good accusation, especially when Akko was involved.

At least she would till another voice appeared behind them.

"You know that sounds a lot like Hyperphotoatoxia. You should get her to bed."

Miss Finnelan turned to find Miss Ursula standing behind her, the hallway light glinting off her glasses as the large witch hat shrouded her face in shadow.

"You don't really believe that, right?"

"If not, I suppose you have to punish them, but if she really is sick and you neglect that, then you're in far deeper punishment than these girls could be faking it."

Miss Finnelan shot the girls a suspecting look and threw her hands up in defeat.

"Fine whatever, I'm far too busy to be dealing with it anyway. You deal with it."

And with that, she stormed off in a hurry, almost as though her tail was between her legs, but head held high as not to admit it. Miss Ursula went over to look over Akko still hanging off of Diana and Amanda. Diana exhaled and calmed down. In equal parts, she felt relieved and disappointed, all that pent up energy, just uselessly let go. It was probably for the best. Given Miss Ursula's relationship with Akko, she could trust her. Sucy returned from around the corner.

"Where the hell were you?" Amanda shouted.

"Lavatory. Why what did I miss?"

"We got our throats ripped out by Miss Finnelan! You were supposed to keep lookout!"

"I never said I'd be a lookout. Why? Did you assume I was?"

Without a word, Diana took the book from her bag and handed it to Miss Ursula.

"Oh dear," she said, thumbing through the pages. "Best we can do right now is keep her out of sight, get her back to her room and wait till tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?"

"Didn't you hear? There's an important visit tomorrow. That what Miss Finnelan is preparing for.

"Who's visiting?"

"Mr Parlance, he hasn't been here for hundreds of years."

"I thought most wizards disappeared."

"They did. But one or two still remain out there."

"So why is he coming here?"

"He wrote many of the books held here, including this one."


End file.
